Far East Kingdoms

Central Asia

Khans of Astrakhan (Tartars)

This Tarter khanate was a
Turkic-speaking splinter state
of the disintegrating
Golden Horde, one of many. It occupied territory on the north-western
shore of the Caspian Sea, bordered to the north and east by the aggressive
and normally hostile Nogai Horde (the Nogay or Nogais), with the newly-created
Kazan khanate on the
eastern side of the Volga, and the
Crimean khanate to the west, inland from the Caspian coastal area.

Occupying a small area of territory around the mouth of the Volga, the
Astrakhan khanate was supposedly (but not necessarily) formed by Mahmud,
the son of Kuchuk Muhammad. Both he and his father were rulers of the
Golden Horde during its last years, when it was being torn to pieces by
rival claimants and by the formation of independent khanates out of its
territory. For some years Mahmud had contended for power against
Ahmad, his own brother, but in 1465 he gave up the fruitless conflict and
instead carved out his own independent khanate from former territory of the
Golden Horde. Opposing theories suggest that it was Mahmud's son Qasim who
founded the khanate, or that it may not have been independent at all until
the fall of the Great Horde in 1502. Being one of the horde's key locations
- and its new capital - it was then viewed as the titular inheritor of the
horde's prestige and status. None of these theories can be proven
satisfactorily but they offer a powerful and creditable alternative.

If he were indeed acting independently, Mahmud centred his khanate on the
capital at Astrakhan, which seems to have been founded shortly before its
first mention in history in 1333. Known more accurately as Xacitarxan or
Hajji Tarkhan (a Tartar), this transformed in time into Actarxan or Hashtar
Khan, and became the modern Astrakhan. It was located on the southern bank
of the Volga shortly before the river entered the Caspian Sea, and commanded
a bubble of territory that extended back along the Volga, almost as far as
the modern city of Volgagrad (formerly Tsaritsyn from 1589 and Stalingrad
during the Stalin period of Communist rule). Tartar Astrakhan was located
about twelve kilometres (nine miles) north of the modern city of the same
name. In 1395 it was sacked by Timur during his conquest of the Golden
Horde from his new base in
Persia and was subsequently rebuilt.

(Information by Peter Kessler, with additional information from Josafa
Barbaro & Ambrogio Contarini: Travels to Tana and Persia, Henry
E J Stanley (Ed, Hakluyt Society Series No 49, 1873), from An
Introduction to the History of the Turkic Peoples, Peter B Golden
(1992), from the Encyclopaedia Britannica: Or, A Dictionary of Arts,
Sciences, and Miscellaneous Literature, Enlarged and Improved, Volume 3,
from The Encyclopaedia of Islam (New Edition), C E Bosworth, E
van Donzel, B Lewis, & Ch Pellat (Eds), and from External Links:
Encyclopaedia.com,
and World
of Royalty.)

Mahmud Astrakhani is generally believed to have founded
a state at Astrakhan during the disintegration of the
Golden Horde. However, some scholars prefer to acclaim his son, Qasim,
as the actual founder of a fully independent khanate instead, perhaps, of an
autonomous division of the Golden Horde. In fact, Astrakhan itself is one of
the centres of the Golden Horde after the destruction of the former capital
at Saray, and may remain so until the horde's dissolution in 1502.

The Mongol empire created by Chingiz Khan gradually broke
up over the course of three hundred years until, by around
AD 1500, it had fragmented into several more-or-less stable
khanates that each vied with the others for power and influence,
while having to fend off the growing power of the Ottoman empire
to the south and Moscow Sate (Muscovy) to the north - in the end
it was an unwinnable fight (click or tap on map to view full sized)

1466 - 1490

Qasim (I) / Kasim
(I)

Son. Founder of
the khanate?

1474 - 1475

Ambrogio Contarini is a
Venetian
diplomat and merchant who, during his travels, records his adventures
throughout the east as a form of travelogue. As the envoy of Venice, he
has been visiting the royal
Persian court at Isfahan in 1474 in pursuit of a military alliance with
the dominant
White
Sheep emirate against the mutually hostile
Ottomans.
The talks are largely fruitless so in 1475 Contarini begins a circuitous
return that must by necessity avoid the Ottomans. The task is even more
difficult because, at the start of 1475, they conquer Caffa and the
Crimean khanate. The latter remains an Ottoman vassal to its very end.

Contarini travels through Derbent in Dagestan and visits Astrakhan to be
able to access the Volga and a return to Europe via
Moscow
state. He notes the paucity of trade in the city despite the presence of
Russian, Tatar, Persian, Transcaucasian, and Central Asian merchants. The
city has never fully recovered from being sacked by Timur around 1391. The
region as a whole is politically unstable and trade is crippled by
extortion.

1490 - 1504

Abd al Karim /
Abdal-Karim Khan

Brother.

1491

The
Crimean khanate apparently seizes all of the
Great Horde's
horses, and encourages
Moscow
to deliver the death blow as a result. Both Moscow and the
Ottomans
dispatch forces which include Russian cavalry, Tartars, and Janissaries.
This causes part of the horde to secede in November 1491 which goes on to
form the Sibir khanate, while the remainder is routed by its enemies. Khan
Murtada Beg may be weakened by this but he clings on to power for a further
eight years (and his son, Aq Köbek, goes on to seize the Astrakhan khanate
in 1532).

1502 - 1504

Much
of the Great
Horde's people and horses are captured by the khan of the
Crimea and forcibly relocated to the Crimea itself. It is not clear
whether this is a repetition of the events of 1491 or a separate event. Shaykh
Ahmad flees with about 4,000 horsemen. While he attempts to come to amicable
terms with first
Moscow
and then khan of Astrakhan, the Nogais kick him out in 1504. Ahmad is forced
to flee again, trying negotiation with
Poland and then with the
Ottomans
at the former Genoese fortress of Mauro Castro. The Great Horde effectually
disintegrates. However, Shaykh Ahmad's son Qasim succeeds as ruler of the
Astrakhan khanate in 1504, with the help of the Nogais. The Mongol heartland
continues to survive farther east as the
Northern Yuan.

Aq Köbek is responsible for deposing and killing Qasim,
and ending his long reign (Qasim's son, Yadigar Muhammad briefly rules as
the last khan of the Kazan).
However, during his own time as khan Aq Köbek apparently puts in place a
treaty or agreement that, for the time being, guarantees the independence
of Astrakhan from the
Crimean khanate and the Nogais.

With the help of the Nogais, Aq Köbek is deposed for a
second and final time by his own nephew, Yaghmurchi. Aq Köbek's son, Mustafa
Ali, goes on to become ruler of the Kasim khanate in 1584.

1544 - 1554

Yaghmurchi /
Yamghurchi

Son of Berdibeg
Khan. Defeated, fled, and killed.

1547

The city of Astrakhan is briefly seized by Sahib Giray I of the
Crimean khanate, but it would seem that Yaghmurchi is able to recover
and return to restore his own rule on the city. By now, though, members of
the Genghisid ruling family are thinking of leaving the city, to migrate
to the other side of the Caspian Sea where they can join the
Shaibanids at
Bukhara.

Under Russian rule trade flourished in Astrakhan, sitting as
it did on one of the prime east-west trade routes - the city
is shown in this print in the sixteenth century

1554 - 1555

The
Russians
under Ivan IV attack the khanate. Yaghmurchi is defeated at the Battle of
Xacitarxan (Astrakhan) and is forced to flee across the River Terek to the
south, in Dagestan, close to the Caucus Mountains. In 1555 he is killed,
either by the Russians, or by the Nogais, or by his own successor (sources
conflict). The Russians and Nogais have already ensured that their own
candidate to rule Astrakhan, Darwish Ali, is able to seize control. As a
grandson of Shaykh Ahmad, the last khan of the
Great Horde,
he at least has some claim to the position.

Having
been temporarily dethroned in 1555 by the Nogais, Darwîsh Alî had quickly been
returned to Astrakhan with the support of the
Russians.
Despite his perilous position he begins to resist Russian and pro-Russian
support and/or interference. He introduces a garrison of
Turks into Xacitarxan (Astrakhan) and
the end result is that the city is besieged by the Russians in 1556. Ivan IV
burns the city, forcing the Astrakhan khanate to surrender. Darwîsh Alî flees
to continue a guerrilla struggle against the Russians but to no avail. Admitting
defeat he heads north-eastwards to the town of Azov while Astrakhan is
incorporated into Russia's growing empire.